Please Pick Me Lord

I wanted to be picked for that part or answering that question in school. And, after watching many episodes of The Chosen, I wonder if I would have desired to be picked as one of Jesus’ followers. I think that I would have enjoyed hanging out with Mary Magdalene and be in on those conversations with Jesus and the disciples.

I read the account of Jesus curing a demon-possessed man in Mark 5:1-18. Wow! What a story! Out of gratitude, the man pleaded with Jesus to go with Him in His public ministry where He taught multitudes and performed miracles. But instead of allowing the healed man to join Him, Jesus told him to go home and tell others about the great change in his life because of Jesus’ miraculous intervention.

And, this line is the “icing on the cake”! Mark 5:20 – “So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. AND ALL THE PEOPLE were amazed.”

I wonder. “Did the once-demon-possessed man feel like what Jesus asked him to do was “small and unimportant” compared to his desire to stay with Jesus and partner in His public ministry?”

Did it seem anticlimactic for the man to go back to the place he knew and to be faithful there? Was the man frustrated because he couldn’t participate in the greater experience of walking closely with Jesus?

We don’t know how the man felt, but we do know he obeyed Jesus, by going home and declaring to his community the great things Jesus had done.

In a day when so many people are searching for great purpose, perhaps the simplicity of Jesus’ instructions to the man is the same for us. Whether it’s in our work, at meetings with our friends and families – our place of ministry is where we are at any given time.

Home can be our literal home where we minister to our children or as the caregiver to a loved one. Home can also be our faithful service in our local church, in a small group we attend, our neighborhood, or our commitment to serve our community. Home can be wherever we are at any given time.

Home is often the place that feels common and leads us to believe we’re missing out on the “great things” we’d like to be doing for God. But … what if the great thing God is calling us to — is to be faithful at home — whatever home represents for us right now?

Often the great thing we want to do for Jesus is not the thing He desires from us. He desires our obedience, which often means we choose to serve Him well in the place where we’re already planted. Today, may we serve Jesus faithfully — even if He’s asking us to serve Him faithfully at home.

Back to my desires to being “picked”. I believe I was picked when God nudged me to be a blogger. Look at where you are right now — in the kitchen, at your desk-job, helping your kiddos with their homework, buying groceries, playing golf with your buddies or volunteering at a food pantry. Every one of those locations are your place of ministry.

YES! God picked us to be His hands and feet wherever we are and whoever we are with at this very moment.

We don’t know how the man felt, but we do know he obeyed Jesus, by going home and declaring the great things Jesus did for him. May we faithfully accept anything God asks us to do wherever we may be, too! So, Lord, PICK US, please!